Eye of the Comet Read Online Free

plain. The shiny spires of a city gleamed on the horizon as Homesmind showed her Its depiction of Earth’s past.
    In front of her, the images of men and women watched as golden and crystal pillars rose from the ground. The pillars would be their city of the mind; through the pillars, and the cybernetic minds within them, human beings would have the power to touch one another’s thoughts, to move mountains with a wish, to create images out of dust and air. The pillars would channel power to humankind. A new civilization would arise; the human mind would rule all.
    The image changed, and Lydee sensed fear. People reeled through the streets of the city as if intoxicated. A man’s mind lashed out at a boy, striking him to the ground. A group of women joined their minds, walling themselves off from the chaos around them. A few seized the minds of others, forcing them to dance. Other people were fleeing from the city, pursued by the specters of giants. Still others ran toward the ships that would carry them away from Earth.
    Their power corrupted them , Homesmind murmured. They could not control it. At first, it was a game, and then it became a battle. Hate could no longer be hidden; thought and action were the same . Several people hurtled through the air, thrown by the minds of their tormentors; others screamed as a building toppled toward them. Lydee felt their despair; they were among those who lacked the mental strength to draw on the power of the pillars, whose minds were deaf and blind to the thoughts of their fellows.
    They could not remain on a world where they would be victims , Homesmind said. The survivors fled to the Halo, where they created new homes among the comets and vowed never to return to Earth . It did not have to tell her more. The cometdwellers were the descendants of those who had lacked mental powers and who had come to believe that probing too deeply into another’s mind could bring only evil.
    “No more,” Lydee said. She caught a glimpse of pillars being buried under rock as the images of destruction faded. “I know all that. I don’t want to see it.”
    It is important that you do. It is part of your history.
    “Some Earthfolk survived,” Reiho said. She raised her eyes to his face. “They found a way to live with their abilities. They are taught from childhood how to control themselves, and live out their lives in small villages using only a little of the power available to them. They speak in thoughts instead of words. They believe that their purpose is to draw closer to one another as they grow older until, when they are very old, they can no longer tell which thoughts are their own and which are those of others.”
    Lydee swallowed. “Then the pillars are still there.”
    “Oh, yes,” Reiho replied. “But they lie buried under mountains and the Earthfolk have forgotten that their ancestors built them. Now they believe that their powers were given to them by a deity. Their brief lives last less than a century, yet they have lived as they do for thousands of years. There are many communities on each of Earth’s continents, but they have all followed the same customs.”
    “All of them? Surely some must have diverged from others in all that time.”
    He shook his head. “Some live in regions of snow and ice, others are fisherfolk by the sea, and still others tend herds or farms, but their basic beliefs are the same in spite of the distances that separate their communities. Occasionally a few people leave one village for another. They say that this is so they won’t grow apart, though it also keeps them from becoming too inbred.” He paused. “Curiosity and change are evils to them. They tell legends of the destruction and seek to keep such a thing from happening again. Therefore, their lives are lived out in ignorance. Their customs protect them. Those who are too passionate, who cannot learn control, die out early. All of their young people go through a ritual that eliminates the